Tanker 'striketeam' in Strahan

THE Tasmanian Fire Service is prepared for the worst on the West Coast today.

A "strike team'' of five tankers will arrive at Strahan today, a day of very high to severe fire risk.

Tasmania Fire Service chief officer Mike Brown described today's conditions as the worst since the 2006-07 season when large fires broke out in the North-East, Hobart's Eastern Shore, Mount Nelson and Epping Forest.

A total fire ban has been declared for the entire state.

"We have additional strike team crews, heavy machinery and aircraft at the ready to respond, but under the extreme conditions firefighting will be very difficult,'' Mr Brown said.

Fires at Richmond and Primrose Sands, in the South, were major concerns for the fire service yesterday.

Mr Brown said people living in areas of extreme fire danger who were not confident with their fire preparation or their ability to stay and protect their property should consider relocating for the day.

"For people who do elect to stay at home and stay with their property, they must ensure that they have a bushfire survival plan and that they review that plan,'' he said.

He also urged people to remain vigilant and continue to monitor the fire situation either by listening to ABC local radio or monitoring the Tasmania Fire Service website, www.fire.tas.gov.au.

"The most important thing is if they do decide to leave, leave early because leaving late is very dangerous.''

Tasmania Fire Service North-West acting district officer Shane Batt said all the information the TFS was getting from the Bureau of Meteorology was that there was going to be high temperatures down the West Coast and high winds, and the fire danger rating was high.

"When we do our fire danger ratings, it is based on the soil dryness, fuel loads, temperatures, relative humidity - they are all scientific figures that we work with,'' he said.

"We identify areas that we think are most vulnerable. The temperatures aren't as high along the top end of the state - it's all down the West Coast and certainly Hobart is getting towards the extreme and catastrophic temperatures for fire ratings, and down the East Coast.'' In addition, the fire service has set up incident management teams in the North-West, North and South.

"We've got a pre-assembled incident management team working at Three Mile Line (Burnie) and we've also got what we call a regional fire operations team,'' Mr Batt said.